BlizzCon 2016 Day 1 - Recap & Live Updates

BlizzCon 2016 Day 1 - Recap & Live Updates

We reformatted this post, moving the summary of everything we learned to the top, live updates will continue to be added at the bottom once the next Diablo panel begins, and then be worked into the summary.

The Necromancer will be a new playable hero, available as both, male and female characters.

They will be available in the "Rise of the Necromancer Pack", which will also include a pet, two new character slots, and two new stash tabs. along with a portrait frame, pennant, banner shape, and sigil.

The pack will release some time in the second half of 2017, it will not be free, though the price is unknown as of yet.

Siphon Blood - Generate 15 Essence each time damage is dealt. Siphon the Blood from the targeted enemy dealing 300% weapon damage as physical. Siphon Blood heals you for 2% of your total health every second while channeled.

The Anniversary Dungeon recreates the events, monsters, and levels of the original Diablo inside Diablo III.

Returning Boss Fights are The Butcher, The Skeleton King, Lazarus and Diablo himself.

The Dungeon will be 16 levels deep and accessible for all existing characters.

It will feature special visual and audio filters to invoke all that sweet nostalgia. Here is a little sneak peek of what that will look like. It will, however only use D3 assets (exception: some bosses).

Inside the dungeon, you'll only be able to move in 8 directions, everything will control and be animated a little more retro-y.

The UI in the dungeon will also be changed to be more reminiscent of the earlier titles.

You will be able to enter the Dungeon via a teleporter in The Old Ruins of Tristram.

The Anniversary Dungeon will be included in "The Darkening of Tristram" patch for free. It will be on PTR next week, and live in January.

It will be a limited time event, occurring for the month of January every year.

Completing the Dungeon rewards a Legendary Gem that fits into the Helmet slot, reminiscent of Diablo's Soulstone into which it will transmog your helmet. Click here for its full stats and look.

The equipment manager will allow you to name and save 5 full loadouts per character, including skills, passives, items, cubed powers.

Paragon Points will NOT be saved, because having acquired new ones after saving a set would require you to re-allocate those.

The Armory will always use the highest level gems (normal and Legendary) of the corresponding type.

Removing Gems will no longer cost money, so you can swap back an forth more freely.

The tenth BlizzCon has opened its doors! We will be updating this post live with all the Diablo info from the event, so be sure to check back regularly! See the Survival Guide for when the Diablo panels are happening.

There are Demo stations for Diablo I, II, and III available for players to use. The older games' presence is due to the series' 20th anniversary this year.

The line for the Diablo III demo stations still has the Reaper of Souls logo, but a larger, currently covered sign right next to it.

It seems that the Diablo (and HotS) stations are the only ones that are currently turned off and not playable.

The pre-show hosts have just mentioned wanting to see a new character class in the game, and brought attention to the console version and couch co-op.